I keep reading posts that sound like they want to fire D'Antoni. News Flash, he's gone.
I think that his legacy is that he had some major blind spots, but at the same time he routinely gets a bad rap on certain subjects. If anything, the repeated mischaracterizations of Mike distract from focusing on the stuff he really was guilty of.
Let's being with a basic truth. Mike was a very successful coach and it was not just luck. He took teams to the WCF and was competative even when dealing with injuries. People who get on him for not winning it all should look at how many other coaches have not won it either. But beyond that generic criticism tharer are some mythgs about Mike as well as some major blind spots.
MYTHS
Mike doesn't care about defense: He did, he just didn't put enough focus on it and made some trade-offs that made things appear worse than they were. First, his "no fouls" meant that other teams got more layups than is often permitted. Fouling doesn't keep the other team from scoring, but does cut down on the opponent's shooting percentage. Another issue was the usual focus was on forcing turnovers. As it was, the Suns were usually in the top 10 in lowest points given up per possession.
Some players like Rose and Pike did not play because of being very poor defenders. But at the same time, he wouldn't play guys who couldn't score.
I think a more accurate statement is that he didn't have them practice defense enough and had an overly simplistic scheme because of it. He seemed to think defense was strictly about energy which made them inconsistent on defense.
Mike Preferred Small Ball: It is more accurate to say he preffered "speedball". Given a choice, he'd rather have a small fast team than a large slow team. But it wasn't small he liked, just blazing speed. In the end, even he had to admit that small fast was not enough against the elite teams and he pushed for the Shaq deal. But his preference was for faster and faster guys who can shoot.
Part of his philosophy was to offset disadvantages on one end with disadvantages on the other end. Ideally the smallder guy would use speed to pester the opponent and big opponents would not be able to stop the small guy. But the issue was creating mismathes and not just go small for its own sake.
REAL PROBLEMS FROM D'ANTONI
Hated Rookies: D'Antoni hated having to teach young players how to play. While some draft picks were traded just to save money, some were traded because Mike refused to teach these guys how to play. Mike would rather load up on guys like Pike and Marks who know how to play, even if their bodies don't actully produce anything.
Young guys who can play and need to get the experience can be a pain. They distract him from focusing in on his core 8 guys. Marks never complained. Rose complained and Mike wanted to get rid of him.
Refused to Develop Depth: D'Antoni treated every regular season game as if it was a playoff game and always had a short bench. This meant that whenever there were injureis, there was never any proven backups. In 2006-07 series with the Spurs, the team loses two key guys and D'Antoni ends up with a six man rotation that runs out of gas in the end.
Fixated On Imposing His Will ON The Opponents: Rather than taking advantage of weaknesses of the opponents, he tried to impose his speedball approach no matter what. It made the Suns terribly predictable.
Didn't Adjust Style To Fit His Personnel: He got one of the great low post offensive players in the history of the NBA and ust him at the high post to set picks. He has an exceptional post up wing who is used as a center where he's overwhelmed until the sieres is over, when Diaw begins tearing Finley appart.
In a similar manner, the Suns defense kept putting Shaq in position where he was burned on the pick and roll every time. Rather than adjusting to his personnel, he has only one scheme and their defense is shredded.
Offense Was Too Unstructured: Mike had a backup point guard who is not a natural playmaker. But rather than build an offense that deals with these limitations, he continues to use an unstrucutred offense that only Nash can run. Worse, when Bowen would mug Nash, there was no backup plan plus guys were standing around waiting for Nash to do something.
Quick Shot Obsession: D'Antoni's discovery that it was easier to score before the defense was set was a major innovation. Other coaches would penalize players who shot too quickly, even when open. D'Antoni pushed for quick shots to the point when guys were shooting even when not open.
PORTER'S WORLD
There seems to be evidence that Kerr was getting frustrated by some of this stuff and hired Porter to continue the up tempo style, but also makde some adjustments. Hopefully he'll rethink some of the stuff D'Antoni was doing and come up with a new approach.
I expect Porter will do some different things that we won't like. But I think we need to be paient and give him the beneift of the doubt.
I think that his legacy is that he had some major blind spots, but at the same time he routinely gets a bad rap on certain subjects. If anything, the repeated mischaracterizations of Mike distract from focusing on the stuff he really was guilty of.
Let's being with a basic truth. Mike was a very successful coach and it was not just luck. He took teams to the WCF and was competative even when dealing with injuries. People who get on him for not winning it all should look at how many other coaches have not won it either. But beyond that generic criticism tharer are some mythgs about Mike as well as some major blind spots.
MYTHS
Mike doesn't care about defense: He did, he just didn't put enough focus on it and made some trade-offs that made things appear worse than they were. First, his "no fouls" meant that other teams got more layups than is often permitted. Fouling doesn't keep the other team from scoring, but does cut down on the opponent's shooting percentage. Another issue was the usual focus was on forcing turnovers. As it was, the Suns were usually in the top 10 in lowest points given up per possession.
Some players like Rose and Pike did not play because of being very poor defenders. But at the same time, he wouldn't play guys who couldn't score.
I think a more accurate statement is that he didn't have them practice defense enough and had an overly simplistic scheme because of it. He seemed to think defense was strictly about energy which made them inconsistent on defense.
Mike Preferred Small Ball: It is more accurate to say he preffered "speedball". Given a choice, he'd rather have a small fast team than a large slow team. But it wasn't small he liked, just blazing speed. In the end, even he had to admit that small fast was not enough against the elite teams and he pushed for the Shaq deal. But his preference was for faster and faster guys who can shoot.
Part of his philosophy was to offset disadvantages on one end with disadvantages on the other end. Ideally the smallder guy would use speed to pester the opponent and big opponents would not be able to stop the small guy. But the issue was creating mismathes and not just go small for its own sake.
REAL PROBLEMS FROM D'ANTONI
Hated Rookies: D'Antoni hated having to teach young players how to play. While some draft picks were traded just to save money, some were traded because Mike refused to teach these guys how to play. Mike would rather load up on guys like Pike and Marks who know how to play, even if their bodies don't actully produce anything.
Young guys who can play and need to get the experience can be a pain. They distract him from focusing in on his core 8 guys. Marks never complained. Rose complained and Mike wanted to get rid of him.
Refused to Develop Depth: D'Antoni treated every regular season game as if it was a playoff game and always had a short bench. This meant that whenever there were injureis, there was never any proven backups. In 2006-07 series with the Spurs, the team loses two key guys and D'Antoni ends up with a six man rotation that runs out of gas in the end.
Fixated On Imposing His Will ON The Opponents: Rather than taking advantage of weaknesses of the opponents, he tried to impose his speedball approach no matter what. It made the Suns terribly predictable.
Didn't Adjust Style To Fit His Personnel: He got one of the great low post offensive players in the history of the NBA and ust him at the high post to set picks. He has an exceptional post up wing who is used as a center where he's overwhelmed until the sieres is over, when Diaw begins tearing Finley appart.
In a similar manner, the Suns defense kept putting Shaq in position where he was burned on the pick and roll every time. Rather than adjusting to his personnel, he has only one scheme and their defense is shredded.
Offense Was Too Unstructured: Mike had a backup point guard who is not a natural playmaker. But rather than build an offense that deals with these limitations, he continues to use an unstrucutred offense that only Nash can run. Worse, when Bowen would mug Nash, there was no backup plan plus guys were standing around waiting for Nash to do something.
Quick Shot Obsession: D'Antoni's discovery that it was easier to score before the defense was set was a major innovation. Other coaches would penalize players who shot too quickly, even when open. D'Antoni pushed for quick shots to the point when guys were shooting even when not open.
PORTER'S WORLD
There seems to be evidence that Kerr was getting frustrated by some of this stuff and hired Porter to continue the up tempo style, but also makde some adjustments. Hopefully he'll rethink some of the stuff D'Antoni was doing and come up with a new approach.
I expect Porter will do some different things that we won't like. But I think we need to be paient and give him the beneift of the doubt.
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, the Suns finished the regular season with a record of 15 and 5. 
